Gunsmoke Shuffle
by de yaten
Summary: Drabbles inspired by song titles. Nothing is sacred. General series. Yaoi, dark, violence, noncon may be inside. :: Knives, Legato, Gung Ho Guns, Midvalley centric::
1. Too Darn Hot

Title: Too Darn Hot

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Too Darn Hot," from the musical Kiss Me, Kate.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Legato hated the heat.

It made him feel sluggish and slow, absolutely _human._

He especially loathed the thick sheen of sweat that inevitably found its way onto his skin. It reminded him too much of his former life – sticky, clinging to him until he futilely tried to wipe it away, only for it to return just minutes later.

Occasionally, he would force himself to produce a gaudy cloth fan he once lifted from a victim. His oh-too-human response to the heat would never fail to produce a dismissive snort from Master.

_Master _never strained from the heat of the Suns.


	2. Growing Up

Title: Growing Up

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Growing Up," from the Care Bears movie.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

They were supposed to grow up peacefully.

They were supposed to grow up with Rem.

They should've been helping mankind rebuild their society, helping them fix their mistakes, start anew on this planet. They should've been helping to build makeshift settlements until carpenters could be grouped together to work on permanent houses and cities.

Instead, they were wandering an endless desert with no clear destination. Peace was a lost dream to them.

Humans, hungry and unprotected, were panicking. They didn't know what to do.

There was supposed to be a crew there to help them. A team of scientists.

_Rem_.


	3. Those Magic Changes

Title: Those Magic Chances

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Those Magic Chances," from the musical Grease.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Knives sifted a hand through his own darkened locks before acknowledging Vash's presence.

"She didn't bother to tell us about this, did she? That bitch."

Vash struggled against his chains. "Rem wasn't like that!"

"She was a _human,_" Knives hissed. "They're all the same. Lying, conniving, manipulating—to survive on a planet they never should've been able to live on."

"It's your fault! If you hadn't caused the Big Fall, none of this would be happening. We could've helped them find a way to stop using the Plants."

The darkness hid the saddened look in Knives' eyes.

"Useless idealism, brother."


	4. Ave Maria

Title: Ave Maria

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Ave Maria" from the musical Notre Dame de Paris.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

The girl trembling before him had her hands folded in prayer, and was murmuring feverishly between chapped, torn lips.

It was not often that Legato granted any sort of mercy.

But this girl, scruffy and disheveled even before his slaughter of the church, had thrown herself at his feet.

Sheets of memory were easily lifted-- she had recently escaped from the basement of a slave-bordello, and had come to the church to find God.

He indulged her before snapping her neck.

After all, he had been graciously allowed to find _his_ God on the day that he escaped that hell.


	5. Room 317

Title: Room 317

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Room 317" from the musical Miss Saigon.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Midvalley would never forget the day he became one of the Gung Ho Guns.

While playing a solo onstage that night, his entire body suddenly froze. His mind became fuzzy, and a caressing voice nipped at his ears:

_Return to your room after the show. I have such wonders to show you._

And so, several hours later, he found himself roughly shoved face-down onto a bed, both struggling against the blue-haired intruder and longing for him to just _touch a bit harder,_ damn it.

"I have need of your services," he whispered, relishing the brunette's shiver. "As our new Gun."


	6. Childhood's End

Title: Childhood's End

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Childhood's End" from the musical Children of Eden.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Childhood was fragile.

Childhood was something to be eased out of with careful precision.

If both the child and the parent did their part, childhood melded into the next phase of life smoothly. It was never an easy transition, but it was more bearable.

The parent needed to undo some of the strings carefully tied to their child –

(_let_ _them choose their friends, wardrobe, and trust them alone_)

while the child knotted independence with another string –

(_stand_ _up for your opinion, make your own choices, don't be afraid_)

Childhood ended for Vash and Knives with the taunting _snip _of scissors.


	7. Without Question

Title: Without Question

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Without Question," from the movie Road to El Dorado.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Midvalley held no illusions about what it meant to be a Gung Ho Gun.

It meant that you would follow any order given to you by Legato or Knives. (Midvalley admittedly would rather obey Legato's orders than Knives' – at least Legato was _human.)_

It meant that you killed when you were told. It didn't matter who you were ordered to murder - you simply did so with exact precision and without mercy. An entire town, a child, your old highschool sweetheart, or the friendly old man that used to babysit you.

It also meant you wouldn't live long enough to repent your actions.


	8. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

Title: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch," from the musical Jekyll & Hyde.

* * *

All the humans did when Knives approached them was bitch, bitch, bitch.

"It hurts!" They'd cry, if he twisted their limbs into impossible knots.

"Stop it, please!" They'd beg, if he thrust his blades into a leg, an arm, or a chest.

If he killed them slowly, they whined and sniveled about their lives. Pleaded for mercy.

If he killed them quickly, he could still feel the residue of a split-second of fear in their minds.

No matter who he slaughtered, all they did was complain about it.

Ungrateful spiders.

Didn't they realize he was doing them a great mercy?


	9. Hardest Part of Love

Title: The Hardest Part of Love

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "The Hardest Part of Love" from the musical Children of Eden.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

The hardest part of love for Midvalley was knowing that while their times together were good, unbelievably so sometimes, they wouldn't last forever. They might not even last the month, if the dwindling ranks of Gung Ho Guns were any indication.

"I suppose," he said, gently laying his beloved down, "I should be grateful for even knowing you."

Hands roamed the golden finish in reverence, and for a moment he could've been someone else; someone not worn down by the weary sands of the world.

The familiar case was quickly shut, and Sylvia was carried silently out of the bar.


	10. Beret and Pancakes

Title: Beret and Pancakes

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Beret and Pancakes," joke track from a Mitch Hedberg album.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Vash peered from behind a cereal box at the woman sitting across from him.

Meryl sipped at lukewarm coffee, thoroughly engrossed in her paperwork.

"Meryl," he said finally, "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Busy," She mumbled, eyes barely drifting from the insurance form.

"You're always busy! You barely eat, sleep, or even talk to me anymore!"

She sighed and gave an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Vash, we've been swamped lately. What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well," he said, gripping the sides of the cereal box, "for starters, we're out of my favorite cereal!"


	11. Hello

Title: Hello

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Hello," by Evanesence ('Fallen')

Warnings: Possible non-con Knives/Mary implications.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

"Hello, Mary."

Something about his greeting was unnerving.

It was unlike Knives to come unannounced into any of their rooms, much less hers.

Maybe he was lonely. Rem was probably with Vash. She babied him too much for Mary's taste, but who was she to question her parenting skills?

"Is something the matter, Knives?"

He simply walked in and casually locked the sliding door behind him.

She wished she had noticed it, then-- the way his smile was a bit _too _devious, his eyes a bit_ too_ focused on her body lazily sprawled across the bed.

"Are you _scared_, Mary?"


	12. Hate Me, Break Me

Title: Hate Me, Break Me

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Hate Me, Break Me," by Savage Garden.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Midvalley always thought that Legato followed Knives because he was, quite frankly, batshit _insane_.

However, there was once when Midvalley caught a glimpse of Knives' hold on the psychic.

He found Legato crumpled and bleeding on the floor, his visible eye swollen and black. Midvalley approached, stopping when the other spoke.

"I didn't mean to raise my head, Hornfreak. Master didn't realize my innocence until after the punishment. But Master was kind enough to say he forgave me."

Midvalley swallowed, unsure of a response.

"No, don't answer."

Legato stood, bracing himself against the wall.

"Never speak of this to anyone."


	13. This Money's Yours

Title: This Money's Yours

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Note: "This Money's Yours," from the musical Miss Saigon.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

_How irritating, _Legato mused, cradling a menu.

The local whorehouse also served as the only restaurant in town.

He was relishing a slice of cheesecake when a woman approached him.

"Say," she crooned, licking her lips, "why don't you forget about _that _cheesecake and help yourself to mine?"

_Disgusting spiders__, only seeking to satiate their primal desires._

Lust radiated easily from her mind-she wanted him _now_, even if he didn't pay for the sex.

"Sure." The smile never quite reached his eyes.

The horrified scream of discovery came upstairs, as he licked the last bit of cheesecake from his fork.


	14. Endless Night

Title: Endless Night

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Endless Night," from the musical The Lion King.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

They had been travelling in the darkness of space for so long, that Rem was beginning to forget the difference between day and night.

There was the simulation room, true, but occasionally you would bump into the wall behind the artificial skyline and the illusion would crumble.

Once, Rem found herself fumbling for words to explain the 24-hour cycle to the twins.

They only knew the artificial sunlight of the simulation room and the immediate night of space, nothing of the in-between.

How could she explain the beauty of a rising sun to those that had only witnessed endless night?


	15. Lullaby

Title: Lullaby

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten

Notes: "Lullaby," from the musical The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Master was healing now.

Because of Vash's denial of the truth Master tried to give him, July was gone.

More importantly, Master was injured.

It had been a task to carry Master back to the place they called Home. It had been even more of a task to place Him properly inside the healing tank, hardly able to understand Him through the gruesome extent of the injuries.

But the order given earlier was very clear: Replace your filthy arm with my brother's.

Legato willingly obeyed.

He let the machinery working Master back to life sing him into a bloody sleep.


	16. Grow For Me

Title: Grow For Me

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Grow For Me," from the musical Little Shop of Horrors.

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

Meryl was pregnant.

Vash protested against her accusations--he hadn't known that humans could become pregnant with a _Plant's_ child.

At least Meryl's doctor hadn't suspected anything abnormal about the pregnancy –although he didn't know about Vash's Plant heritage, and therefore had nothing to suspect.

But Meryl was pregnant, and Vash knew that Knives would notice. When Knives came out of the coma, he would easily detect the child in Meryl and want to kill it. Or worse.

Thankfully, for now, Vash could just simply lay his head against Meryl's stomach, and watch as the mother and child grew together.


	17. Let Me Walk Among You

Title: Let Me Walk Among You

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Let Me Walk Among You," from the musical "Bat Boy."

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

As a child, Knives wanted not only wanted to be accepted by humans--he wanted to walk among them.

When Rem and Vash were asleep, he would sneak away to read about them in the ship's database.

Fathers, sisters, mayors, farmers--they were all so different, so _interesting._

But.

He had been naïve then--so naïve, to think that the humans were anything but parasitic garbage, leeching off his Sisters and caring of nothing but themselves.

Knives walked through the Nameless town, sparing a glance at the fresh corpses.

He smiled.

In a way, he _was_ walking among them now.


	18. Where Do We Go From Here?

Title: Where Do We Go From Here?

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Where Do We Go From Here?" From Buffy: Once More, With Feeling.

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or its characters. I don't claim to own them.

* * *

Vash sat with hands clasped tightly together, lips pressed in a frown.

He hadn't expected this, really. He had healed easily from similar wounds before. But Knives had never been one for pain and injury.

Knives lay on the white mattress with white sheets that were methodically cleaned every hour on the hour, because Knives' wounds had reopened and the oozing red clashed with the bleached white of the entire place. Some nameless hospital in a nameless town that knew him as Alex, kind Alex with a sad smile and a dying brother.

"Brother… where do I go without you?"


	19. Man's Road

Title: Man's Road

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: "Man's Road," from the movie "The Last Unicorn."

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or its characters.

* * *

He had been walking along man's road for a long time.

He was tired and rootless, and dust-demons hurled insults at him through the sand gritted winds.

_Monster freak __unhuman__ unwanted unwelcome_

He said nothing and looked for shelter from the storms. He found it sometimes. Sometimes not.

He continued to walk along man's road.

He stopped in a nowhere town in a nowhere patch of sand-land, and rooted a home for himself until the babies he saw born grew withered with age and were buried next to long-dead parents.

So he uprooted and began treading the hourglass-rimmed streets again.


End file.
